His humoristic and childish illustrations of objects, scenes or characters try to represent the less serious details of our lifes, the absurd, the paradoxal and the ridiculous with irony and detachment. Louis Grosperrin is a very talented illustrator, animator and graphic designer. You have to check-out his Instagram-Account it’s #treetastic!
Hello Louis! Who are you and why did you become an illustrator, animator and graphic designer?
Hey Stefan ! Thanks a lot for taking interest in my work ! My name is Louis, I’m a 23 year old french boy and I’m currently living in Madrid, Spain. I was born in Paris but grew up in Hong Kong, and then studied in London. I’m afraid this is going to be a cliche answer, but I’ve always been drawing. I’ve always had a passion for crafty stuff and in general the urge to create things, but that wasn’t really in my mind as a career choice until I had to fill applications for universities after my Baccalaureate, and ended up applying to Central Saint Martins in London. I initially moved my way through the foundation year and then the 3 year Graphic Design Bachelor with the intention to specialise in illustration, but as I explored my practice and saw the opportunities that other medias offered for my work, I gained a lot of interest in animation and film. I guess I’m a pretty narrative person, I like to tell stories and charge then visually so being able to give life to drawings was a game changer for me.
You have been living in France, HongKong and Spain. Where are the best living conditions for an artist craving for inspiration?
I’ll start with the most determining factor in the equation and the reason why I left London; that is cheap rent. Unless you work for an agency, company or studio, I believe creative jobs -and in my case freelancing- is kind of a risk you’re going to take economically and before you manage to kickstart your career, jobs don’t come regularly and don’t pay too well either. You have to struggle a bit, but the struggle is key. I think it actually makes you more creative, determined and hungry for it. Also you stay true to your creative self if you don’t sell your soul to the corporate world too quickly and have some time after graduating to reflect on who you are as a creative. Living with cheap rent can give you the peace of mind necessary to be productive.
The second essential factor is the need to be surrounded by a diversity of people, backgrounds, point of view, tastes because that allows you to reinvent yourself constantly, step out of your comfort zone, be challenged. It is important to enable the conditions to surprise yourself, and expect the unexpected.
The last would be to travel when you can. No matter where you go or do, I think it’s about the perspective that you gain on your life, observing it objectively and with more clarity. It allows you to set goals for yourself and identify ways you can improve, and that usually lasts much longer than your drunken new years eve resolutions, with better results.
What does the logo on your webpage mean? Life is sweet and sour?
That’s probably a deeper and more gratifying way to explain it than anything I could have thought of ! A lot of people around me including my mum have expressed concern for some of the drawings I do, they feel it’s quite sexual sometimes. I’m really fascinated by curves and the aesthetic of it in opposition to a straight line for example, so what better way of symbolising my fascination than a nice round boob. Maybe I’m a bit of a pervert but what the hell. When I was younger, I had a whole book filled with drawings of dicks, and my friends would give the theme for each, like “Pokemon”, so naturally I would draw a big Cockemon and the PokeBalls that go with it. That was very entertaining for some time until a teacher found that book.
Do you think you can make a change with your design?
I don’t really expect to change the world with my work, but If I can put a smile on someone’s face, that’s already great ! I always try to put a touch of humour in the drawings because I consider that if it makes me laugh, there’s a good chance someone else will too. There’s a good deal of irony and cynicism in our lives, especially within the sphere of social media that englobes everyone of us, and being able to laugh about it is the first step to being aware of it and rising above.
I think I can also show people that you don’t need to take yourself too seriously sometimes and that when life makes a joke of you, laugh along.
What makes a really good graphic design in your opnion?
I was going to write something about balance, communication, typography, effectiveness of message and identifying the targeted audience, but that would be complete baloney and just the distance echo of what I’ve been taught in uni. The truth is that I’m terrible at it, and I don’t like it so I’m afraid I can’t answer that question.
Can you say somthing about The Astronomer and The Ündertåker ?
The Astronomer – Eye can see clearly now!
The Astronomer was an animation I made for a competition. This glasses company was looking for an animation to advertise some special dust/fingerprint/glare free new lease they had, and letting people offer their take on the brief. At that time I was looking a lot into old medieval or anatomy etchings and engravings, and I sort of forced the visual side I had in mind, post-rationalising it onto the brief. I created this whole story about an astronomer that couldn’t look at the stars because of his poor eye sight until God -insert company name here- offered him some sacred glasses for him to have the Eureka moment he had been looking for. Anyway, the video didn’t make it through.
Ündertåker
The Undertaker was my final year project and my first serious attempt at animation. I was fascinated by Rube Goldberg and the wonderfully absurd machines he imagined, and I wanted to make one of my own. I created this whole prototype that would allow you to bury yourself a the moment of your death, your potential heart attack launching the necessary momentum for a whole succession of objects to react to one another in a chain reaction, and push you in your grave. The whole thing was a bit dark and morbid so I turned it into a joke about Ikea. Anyway watch it, you’ll understand the link … maybe !
How important is the nature as a source of inspiration for you?
I think nature, and especially the sea plays a big role in my life, and is an important source of inspiration in my work. When I was younger, my family and I lived for two years sailing around the world. I learnt to read and write onboard a 16m catamaran with my Mum giving her 4 kids daily class and my Dad making sure we stayed alive through storms and pirate waters. I scuba dived for the first time when I was 9 years old and the underwater world has always fascinated me since. We would learn the names of all fish, shell, worm, ray, mammal, anemone and identifying them in books and drawing them in memory journals. At night we’d stare at the night sky and trace the constellations. I have a memory that I knew how to tell the north and the month of the year just by looking at it, but that’s probably not true. On land, we’d always build a treehouse, trace our kingdoms and invent currencies we could trade with out of pieces of coral for example. Actually that makes me remember that my older brother would always determine the value of that currency and fluctuate it to his will, and favour…
What is your next big goal in Life?
I can’t tell you one above all, but I can make you a list of quick things that I look forward to :
- going in space
- learning how to do a cartwheel
- convince my friends to join me for a meal at this all you can eat unlimited sushi restaurant, just so I have an excuse to go, and not be shamed for going alone
- make something out of the junk i keep finding in the street and hoarding home, some DIY stuff hopefully or else wood for the fire
- find the right spot of my shower handle where the water temperature glides heavenly between icy and satan’s fire
- learn people-talking skills and reverse psychology to be able to convince more people to scratch my back
- come at peace with the fact that i’m a muggle and that the Hogwarts letter will never come
- own the pizza hydrater from Back To The Future or the burger microwave from Spy Kids
- find Waldo
- figure out what my next big goal is
Reach for the stars
Reach for the stars ✨ #jobs #future (…)
Ein Beitrag geteilt von Louis Grosperrin (@louis_otis) am
I think you don’t hug trees … do you?
Thank you very much for your time and the funny answers.
Thanks a lot Stef ! Have a great day 🙂
Louis
P.S. Here you can find Waldo in VR/360° ! 😉
Kuula features the best & most creative VR/360° images on the web.
